Global communication: These are the “good old days”

I was recently reminded, when chatting and exchanging cat photos with our daughter, of how grateful I am to live in the age we do.

You see, she lives in Ireland.

We often see Facebook posts about how much better everything was back in the “good old days.” The posts usually highlight some golden age or another, when there was  better music, better cars, and no worrying about drinking from a garden hose.

Many marginalized people would beg to differ about how much better things used to be. 

I admit that days gone by can seem appealing because they harken back to what we think was a simpler, more community-oriented, and affordable and stable time.

But I wouldn’t trade today’s ability to communicate for anything.

When I first moved out of my family home in 1978, there were two ways to stay in touch: writing letters and making ridiculously expensive long-distance calls. These days, even though my daughter is 4,200 km away, we can communicate any way we want, and it’s like she’s in the next room.

That was pure science fiction back then, but we now take it all for granted, especially those too young to remember such things as letter writing and making long-distance calls.

Or waiting two weeks to develop photos of your cats.

There are many reasons for angst these days, but our ability to stay close to each other, even over vast distances, isn’t one of them.

People 50 years ago (including me) couldn’t even imagine what we can do today. When it comes to communication, these are good days. We should appreciate them as if they were.